Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this week we have been talking about some sterling nominees for our Nation's circuit courts of appeals. These are our intermediate appellate courts in the country, one step above the trial courts where cases are tried and one step below the Supreme Court of the United States. What most people don't realize is that the Supreme Court only decides roughly 80 cases a year. In other words, there is no guarantee that if your case is tried in the trial court, it will go beyond the circuit court of appeals. So in many instances, our circuit courts are the ``supreme court,'' or the court of last resort. These sterling nominees that the President has nominated include Professor Amy Barrett, who yesterday was confirmed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals by a bipartisan vote of 55 to 43. For some reason, our friends across the aisle have decided it is to their advantage to inexplicably drag out the clock against a really accomplished scholar--and to boot, a mother of seven--but, of course, to no avail. What is worse is our colleagues across the aisle have seemed to have forgotten some of their own priorities when it comes to judges. For example, the senior Senator from Minnesota has said in the past: ``It is time to get women on the bench.'' Well, we just did that yesterday, and we are going to do it again. ``They should get an up-or-down vote . . .…”